People complaining about this are moronic. He was a late first rounder/early second. It was the Dolphins BIGGEST need by a mile. Exactly what Tannehill needs to stay upright. He’s the most important person on the team. Go Phins!

Did not see this coming… But a good solid pick none the least… This picks suggest that they are going to protect Tannehill and give the Dolphins offense some time to get the chemistry jelling… I can see this working well, we still need to get a good quality 2nd rounder at ILB or NickleBack…

For all of the Dolphins saying this is a good pick I would bet anything you didn’t watch any film on James. I wouldn’t mind the pick if they traded down and acquired an extra pick but Hickey saying he was the best player on their board is a flat out lie! If he really was the BPA on their board I’m scared to see what the rest of it looks like!!!

beachsidejames says:May 8, 2014 10:58 PM

Last season the Fins could not run the ball or protect the QB and that was mainly on the o-line. You must take the bpa that is at your most needed position. This guy was it. #2 problem was stopping the run. Insde linebacker if Borland is there should be next.

somethinghappeninghere says:May 8, 2014 11:00 PM

Shenanigans on the “reach” crap, they got a definite starting right tackle. Martin is more likely a guard. Lewan is from Michigan (Ross) but has questionable intangibles. Matthews and Robinson went in top 5 as expected. And Steelers took Shazier and Ravens took Mosely. Honestly? Fins got best tackle available, and considering some teams that drafted after them also needed right tackles, I think Hickey did well at 19. In fact any player I would have liked on Dolphins had already been picked (like Mike Evans and Eric Ebron)…as far as OL goes, Fins did get BPA.

Good luck, Bills, with Watkins–great pick…but who throws to him? And doesn’t the AFC East have some of the best corners in the NFL…Revis, Grimes…

gsb333 says:May 8, 2014 11:02 PM

Addressed a need, did not take the best guy on the board. Trade down to get this guy… or put something in to jump up and get the OT you really wanted. Not a huge fan of this pick or Tenn guys in general.

You’ve hit the nail on the head: the fish rots from the head down.
Our team has a completely dysfunctional organizational structure with multiple people in positions they are unqualified for. James and the other lineman at his talent level would all be available from the 2nd to 4th rounds. Another wasted 1st round pick. Thanks for nothing Steve Ross.

nickyleacy says:May 8, 2014 11:13 PM

Now we just need to make sure Mike Pouncey doesn’t bully him.

Unfortunately this is not a joke.

lostsok says:May 8, 2014 11:14 PM

All our other options were gone. I would have liked a trade-down, but they got a day 1 starter that could help solidify the weakest area on the team.

We need play-makers, and that’ll be the measure of this draft for Miami, but the primary NEED has been answered. Not sexy, but it was an effective pick.

lawlessko says:May 8, 2014 11:15 PM

One of the things I like a sports reporters and draft analysts is that they will always tell you “there is no such thing as a reach, if that’s the best player on their board and there are no trade offers, then that’s where they should take him”…..and then when someone reaches they say “that’s a reach right there”.

Obviously, “casual ” Dolphins fans are disappointed, but the bottom line is all the guys they wanted were gone. They got James who is the #1 undisputed Right Tackle. Not glamorous, but needed. Would he be there for a Trade-back… Who cares no one Traded. The OL’s are going off the board 34-48 real fast. The Phins could not chance getting no one at 50. It sucks to be near Playoffs… 19 blows.

So Miami gets some help on the offensive line, just like I told them to (LOL). Good pick, in my opinion.

deadeye says:May 9, 2014 1:08 AM

This pick was caused by the absolute need created by Jeff Ireland’s ineptitude on the o-line.

lawlessko says:May 9, 2014 1:16 AM

“They should have traded down”, I agree….but, maybe that option wasn’t there.

“He’s not a great mauler in the run game”….doesn’t need to be it’s a zone-blocking scheme, all he has to do is push people where he is supposed to. Which if you watch the tape is exactly what he does, gets inside leverage and then turns the rusher to where he wants them to go…and they do.

Remember all these lists and mocks were put together by people that have never been anything more than fans of the game. Just like the rest of the media you shouldn’t believe their opinions. Regardless of what the pundits want to say, the Fins thought he fit their system best of what was left. Maybe Kouandjio would have been a better pick, but their depth is so bad they can’t afford the risk of an injury….and he may still be there in the second round.

If he turns into a solid player(which I think he will) then nobody will care if we reached a few spots for him

xpensivewinos says:May 9, 2014 1:33 AM

Jeff Ireland’s mind-numbing and unrelenting incompetence put the Dolphins in this position of having to take the best tackle available and not necessarily the best player available. It’s an ok pick by default in that they so desperately need him, he can’t possibly be worse than what they had.

Truth be told, he could be lousy and would still constitute an upgrade from what they fielded last year.

Listen people (Dolfans) We will never the ifs…if Hickey had traded down would’ve James been there. At this point all we can do is find out in the future if this guy is worthy to be picked 19th overall selection. He will either prove it to true or not. Things may turn out that he was the best tackle in the draft or he was the worst. Complaining will not change this draft pick. I must say i am more partial with the side that we should have traded down but then again there is that side of me thats saids it was the right pick. The fact is we can only wait and see if James turns out to be worthy of the 19th overall pick. Where a guy is picked really dosent matter…will he live up to it and be a star is what matters.

I really wanted Greg Robinson because of one man named Mario Williams. ..my biggest question is can James block Williams. I do believe Robinson could but with James only benching 22 reps at the Nfl combine (4th lowest) I must say im a lil concerned with that. The reason the Dolphins was swept by the Bills last season was because of the Bills front seven….Mario Williams and company…I dont want to see that happen again

phillyphinsfan says:May 9, 2014 6:09 AM

Nobody knows how good these players will be until they put the pads on. The Dolphins desperately needed a RT, so they drafted one. Maybe they tried to trade down but couldn’t. If they really liked this kid and waited until the second round to get him, there’s no guarantee that he would have been there.

tsi431 says:May 9, 2014 6:54 AM

Dolphins still need a QB. Throwing more INT then TD’s during your career only works in New York.

Blaiming the OL is not an excuse. Look at Green Bay, their line is much worse, and A-Rog is constantly running for his life.

Doesn’t matter who Miami picked, even though it was slim pickings at 19 by the time they picked, who ever they got Miami would have been scrutinized. This guy is a RT, not a LT who moved to the other side, no injury issues, a lot of experience, he is gigantic, good leader and character, he will be very good, would have liked to see a trade but given how the draft board looked at that time I don’t think teams felt they needed to trade that high. I’ll judge hickey after rd 2.

Heres how I see it. Most of us didnt hear the “experts” talking about this guy as a first rounder so we “think” it’s a reach. Fair enough but honestly it’s compeltely silly. The problem for us is that we’ve seen this story so many times over and over from the Dolphins that we dont trust that the guys in charge properly evaluated this player and know what their doing. So only time will tell but I do agree that if we went BPA here and at 50 there were no tackles available it wouldve been an absolute disaster, people would be saying, OMFG we took a luxory WR in cooks whos undersized and got a 4th round RT talent with our 2nd pick and now Tannehill will never be able to get the ball to cooks because we have no online, STILL!!! WTF is wrong with Hickey, what a moron, we couldve taken RT A. B. or C. with our 1st pick and drafted the decent WR with our 2nd pick, UGH!!!

Last night was great pick. Watch some video, granted it was not much but saw great things. This guy is big n he stays healthy too. There is a lot of potential there. And we could not risk not filling that position. It was our weakest position. The second pick is to late to risk not getting someone who the dolphins believe can start n do well.

Exciting pick? No
Necessary pick? Yes
Guaranteed to be there later in the draft? No
Guaranteed to be starter? Yes

Remember that many of the O tackles recently taken with a 1 or 2 overall pick have started at RT, so at 19 this isn’t much of a reach especially considering the need for a starter. More over, RT has become an increasingly important position in the NFL, with many teams putting their best pass rushers on that side.

One other good thing, he’s been very durable and could easily be a fixture on the line for a decade.